Absolute power is not easily tamed. This is apparent when contemplating the life of LaVoy Finicum.

Finicum was father to 11 children and a veritable host of grandchildren. He was a faithful defender of individual liberty and our constitutionally limited federal government. Finicum was killed during a confrontation with FBI and state police on a lonely stretch of highway between Burns and John Day, last Tuesday.

The current information black-out is troubling because we are purposefully kept in the dark and find ourselves trapped in the web of manufactured information. The best way to quell the clamor about the unjustified taking of an innocent human life is to show the public the contrary evidence. We see daily video of drone strikes in Syria and police stops in Tallahassee, are you telling me the FBI doesn’t own any video-cams?

The anger buried in the cat-calls for “aggressive action” against the protestors has been fulfilled. This is what I find most distasteful and dreadfully shocking. Last week, popular TV host, Montel Williams felt free to suggest, “a bunch of undereducated terrorist buffoons” should be stopped by “a massive use of deadly force.”

Montel got his wish.

Media outlets foment these reactions by continually headlining that the protestors are “armed occupiers.” If every American has a right to carry a firearm, then why does this sound so threatening? If this is a guaranteed ‘right’ than is it any different from exercising your freedom of the press or the ability to speak your mind?

Patrick Henry asked the same question during the constitutional convention, “Are we at last brought to such an humiliating and debasing degradation, that we cannot be trusted with arms for our own defense?”

Under the Obama administration the Department of Homeland Security purchased over 2.1 billion rounds of ammunition between mid-2012 and mid-2015. That’s enough ammo to kill around 30% of the world’s population, or shoot every man, women and child in American with 6 bullets each and have a quarter of million rounds left-over.

Enormous government stockpiles like these pose a direct threat to the sovereignty of all fifty states and our individual liberty and freedom.

Another self-perpetuating falsehood comes from the typical “on-the-street” interview. In these well-crafted interviews, we hear from people who are concerned about, 1) the costs of the occupation, or, 2) the safety of families and children in the area.

These concerns should be legitimate, but the real world tells us differently.

The costs associated with closing the schools resulted from an unnecessary political gesture. All of the schools in Harney County are nearly 40 miles from the actual protest at the Wildlife Refuge.

News stories rarely relate size and distance of the land resources in Oregon’s Eastern Desert. Harney County, encompasses more than 10,000 sq. miles, which is more land than the states of Connecticut, Rhode Island and Delaware. In this single county, the feds control more land than Connecticut and Rhode Island combined.

Additionally, the population totals for those three states approaches 5.5 million souls, while across the same square mileage in Harney County there are just over 7,000 people.

The protestors at the refuge are not terrorists but they are desperately trying to make a point.

Protestors in the 1960’s and 70’s didn’t think their voices would be heard if they played by the rules. Their method was to break rules, windows, and set things on fire. Bundy’s group has not turned and burned any police, sheriff, BLM or FBI vehicles, nor have they broken any windows.

The protestors of the 70’s included Former Attorney General Eric Holder who participated in a five-day armed occupation of a Naval ROTC building at Columbia University. Holder was a leader in the Student Afro-American Society (SAAS), which demanded renaming the office to the “Malcolm X Lounge.” The group insisted, the change would, “honor… a man who recognized the importance of territory as a basis for nationhood.”

During the 60's and 70's protests like these were fairly common. The Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) were known to provoke fights and the Black Panthers frequently demonstrated with firearms. The American Indian Movement, even joined in with a 71-day armed standoff at Wounded Knee during which they actually exchanged gunfire with the FBI.

These examples all boil down to the same issues which haunted the authors of the Boston Pamphlet (1772). They highlighted the absurdity of supposing that "the Power of one or any Number of Men," could usurp the "essential natural Rights or the Means of preserving those Rights," when the entire purpose of civil government was "the Support, Protection and Defense of those very Rights: The principal of which, as is before observed, are Life, Liberty, and Property."

These colonial rebels, during the late 1700’s, led the noble cause that created the freest nation on planet earth. They identified the same political rhetoric we see today.

Our public blindness to our nation’s principles for Liberty, allows the potential for unscrupulous men, in high government offices to abuse their proper authority and yet remain immune from the “Rule of Law.” This will be our most formidable obstacle as we work to secure Liberty for our posterity.

“The [Protestors] have been branded with the odious Names of Traitors and Rebels, only for complaining of their Grievances. How long such Treatment will or ought to be borne is [the question] submitted.” – The Boston Pamphlet (1772)

20 Comments

Robert cottrell
~ Jan.
29,
2016 @
1:28am

I am sickened by what has happened. How outrageous can our government be? I don't think that this will be stopped soon,unfortunately I expect more blatant government murders in order to control the masses. I won't give up tell I die but I'm old. God please look after my kids and grandkids.IN JESUS NAME AMEN
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Lisa Johnson
~ Jan.
29,
2016 @
8:47am

Well put and my feelings exactly. This country is in serious trouble with the "police state" that is here now.
Regards,
Lisa
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terri barnhart
~ Jan.
29,
2016 @
8:49am

thanks for the info. i too have been saddened by the death, and shocked by the news blackout and disinformation.
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Jan Craig
~ Jan.
29,
2016 @
9:55am

Thank you, Dennis. I met LaVoy and talked with him...what a kind, thoughtful, gentle man. You just knew he had a heart of gold, just as you also knew that he was a man of his word. His commitment as a Patriot was in every fiber of his body. His hard stand was the Constitution. LaVoy is now, truly,a free man, riding herd for the biggest Boss of All. RIP Lavoy
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Thanks so much, Dennis, for writing this article. So sad Mr. Finicum is gone now, and 11 children have lost their father.
Life is about Choices - and he knew Choices have consequences.
There comes a time for all GOD-fearing Patriots to STAND. No doubt, our time will come too.
Our marching orders: "Watch. Stand fast in the Faith. Be Brave, Be Strong".
(1 Cor. 16:13)
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Bruce Bliven
~ Jan.
29,
2016 @
10:43am

Dennis, as usual, you're spot on and don't rush to rash commentary like the lame stream media does.
I enjoy your honest evaluations, along with factual historical facts, that you present in your newsletters.
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Stephani Hopfer
~ Jan.
29,
2016 @
10:55am

Well stated. Their only crime was occupying Harney County and not Wall Street. I am so sorry. I am a shamed that my government did this.
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Larry Ross
~ Jan.
29,
2016 @
12:27pm

VERY good article Dennis. We are at risk from our government right now and it takes people like the Bundys and the others to stand up to these powerful government agents. There is no justice in America right now !!
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Dave Jones
~ Jan.
29,
2016 @
1:20pm

I grieve your loss. May God be with you and your's in this time of great sorrow.
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Dennis
~ Jan.
29,
2016 @
1:48pm

Great article! Most sheeple will continue to have their head in a hole until all their feathers are gone and then wonder what happened. Keep the articles coming.
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John Chambers
~ Jan.
29,
2016 @
5:02pm

Thank you, Dennis. It is a sign of our times that the 'powers that be' cannot abide any complaints. No, wait, that has been the attitude since the be beginnings of powers-that-be, millennia at least.
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E. Werner Reschke
~ Jan.
29,
2016 @
5:48pm

Well done. The fact that the Federal Government holds 53% hostage and over 60% of Klamath County doesn't seem to bother most in DC. This land and her resources belong to the State at the very least. Better would be county control and better yet private control. The point being those closest to the land and her resources will always manage it better than some bureaucracy far away in a distant land called the District of Columbia.
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Mark Baird
~ Jan.
29,
2016 @
7:34pm

Well said. Liberty first. Liberty always. Without Liberty you will not be allowed to keep the money or property. Joe Stalin said,
"ideas are more dangerous than guns. We do not allow our enemies to have guns, why would we let them have ideas".
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Jim
~ Jan.
30,
2016 @
11:31am

The sad truth here is that 99% of liberals are totally brainwashed into believing just the opposite and that only the government knows what is best for us as individuals. I've been of the opinion that there is a rat in all that the Feds and other law enforcement have done or told us concerning this whole episode.
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Jim Welsh
~ Jan.
30,
2016 @
11:47am

Dennis, I appreciate your article "Absolute Power is not Easily Tamed" and intend to stay connected to Dirt Road Economist. I am the immediate past Lobbyist for Oregon Cattlemen's Association and former Legislator.
Best regards,
Jim Welsh
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Finnioius T Fogbottom
~ Feb.
2,
2016 @
6:36pm

Thanks for all that you stand for Dennis. Oh the power of words redefined. Our nation has been forever hopelessly changed by the way the mindless masses have been brought to falsely perceive what is good, what is evil, what is useful and what is unacceptable. In our time it is not the Jewish, but those who provide the essentials of our society that have been considered to be an expendable and reprehensible inconvenience. As in Germany the time may be near when the general public proudly and eagerly gives the politically correct nod to visit latest concept of the final solution upon us. God help us.
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Nick Cooley
~ Feb.
4,
2016 @
1:12pm

I hope everyone is aware of the big-money back story. I am not speaking of the Hammond family, or their activities. I am speaking of the land-grabbing scam that is at the heart of government policy.
The Federal government is pushing people off of their land so that the wealth of that land can be exploited by well-connected interests. In this case, the Obama/Clinton administration has sold the mineral wealth of Harney county to a Russian company, Rosatom, that does business under the name "Oregon Energy, LLC".
You don't believe me? Then go read the following NY Times Article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/24/us/cash-flowed-to-clinton-foundation-as-russians-pressed-for-control-of-uranium-company.html
Our government is run by criminals, and anyone in their employ is an accessory to felony activity. Mr. Finicum was murdered so that a Russian energy company can exploit the mineral wealth of our land.
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Bryan
~ Feb.
5,
2016 @
3:54pm

The best way to honor Lavoy (RIP) is to carry on his message. But not just to carry it on, to enforce it like nobody's business. It's time people. It's really time. We are boiling frogs and there are people out there fighting every day. The FBI released the execution video immediately. They are sending us a message. Resist and die. It's time to respond, peacefully. God Bless Us All.
Bryan
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Bryan
~ Feb.
5,
2016 @
3:57pm

Also let us not forget Ron Wyden was reported saying "The virus is spreading" regarding the refuge ordeal. Make no mistake.. the virus is TRUTH.
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